
Illinois In the War 



An Address to 

The Commercial Club of Chicago 

By 

SAMUEL INSULL, Chairman 

THE STATE COUNCIL OF DEFENSE 

OF ILLINOIS 



JANUARY 18, 1919 



Illinois In the War 



An Address to 

The Commercial Club of Chicago 

By 

SAMUEL INSULL, Chairman 

II 

THE STATE COUNCIL OF DEFENSE 
OF ILLmOIS 



JANUARY 18, 1919 



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Copyright, 1919, by Samuel Insull 



JAN 31 1919 

©CLA51«786 



Illinois In the War 



The State Council of Defense of Illinois is a liquidating — 
almost a liquidated — concern. Hence, what I am to say may be 
considered as a forecast of some aspects of a final report to the 
shareholders. These shareholders are the people of Illinois, for 
the Council has tried, at least, to be representative of the patriot- 
ism and effort of all our people. 

In this we have followed the lead of Governor Lowden. 
From the first, he set a pattern of undivided loyalty and unfalter- 
ing devotion to the cause of America. He did not seek to curry 
favor with either pacifists or hyphenates by soft speaking. Nor 
did he recognize politics or partisanship as a factor in the prose- 
cution of the war. He did not conceal his convictions nor 
camouflage his attitude. 

Governor Lowden not only set the State Coimcil an example 
to follow, but he made our work infinitely easier than it would 
otherwise have been. Frankly, if we had not had him as our 
bulwark, and also as the pioneer in what we imdertook to do, our 
difficulties would have been tremendous, and we might not have 
overcome all of them. 

With Governor Lowden to lead, it is our belief that Illinois 
made a record in the war in which all make take a just pride. 
Let me sum up for you some of the state's achievements — not in 
wearying detail, but in gross totals. 

First, the men our state furnished to fight the war, for the 
men who do the fighting rightly come first. Under the selective 
service act, Illinois registered a total of 1,559,586 men of fighting 
age — 646,480 on June 5, 1917, between the ages of 21 and 31 
years; 44,106 youngsters who had just come of age on June 5, 



2 ILLINOIS IN THE WAR 

1918; 689,000 on September 12, 1918, boys between the ages of 
18 and 21, and men between the ages of 31 and 45. 

Illinois put into the national service a total of 314,504 men 
and boys — 24,663 in the Navy; 3,678 in the Marines; and 286,163 
in the Army. The figures for the Army are to the end of the war; 
those for the Navy and the Marines are up to June 30th only; the 
several thousand volimteers who entered the service as officers 
through the various training camps are not included. But even 
these incomplete figures show that Illinois furnished for the de- 
fense of the nation in the great war 57,207 more men than it did 
for maintenance of the union in the four years of the Civil War. 

Another interesting fact is, that while the selective service 
act was adopted almost as soon as America was in the war, 56.6 
per cent of the men who went from Illinois — 178,143 — volun- 
teered, and only 43.3 per cent — 136,361 — were inducted into 
service imder the draft law. 

Next, money. To finance the war, the United States has 
borrowed on bonds and war savings stamps, in round numbers, 
$19,000,000,000. Of this sum, Illinois furnished in round num- 
bers, $1,300,000,000— more than $1,209,000,000 for Liberty 
Bonds and the remainder for War Savings Stamps. In other 
words, with about 5.5 per cent of the population of the United 
States, Illinois has taken virtually 7 per cent of the nation's war 
loans. This sum is once and a half times the value of the great 
crop (the greatest of any state in the union) which we raised last 
year. 

Illinois has given, as well as loaned, her money for the war 
The total collections of the various war aid and relief organiza 
tions of which a record has been kept runs well above $42,250, 
000. This is within $7,750,000 of the total of all state appropria 
tions for the two-year period of 1917 and 1918. In other words 
in the eighteen months we were at war, the people of Illinois 
voluntarily assessed themselves about once and a half as much 
per year for war aid and relief as they are assessed for state 
taxes. 



ILLINOIS IN THE WAR d 

This money was given as follows: 

Red Cross $16,165,100 

Y. M. C. A 4,896,187 

Salvation Army 781,941 

United War Work 13,935,452 

War Recreation Board 550,000 

Under State Council licenses 6,000,000 

This last sum is partly estimated; it was money collected for 
local aid of all kinds, and our figures show it was all collected 
with an overhead charge of less than 10 per cent. These figures 
do noi include the very generous first contribution to the Knights 
of Columbus, nor the fees of the two Red Cross membership 
drives. 

Another of the great contributions of Illinois was in the 
products of the field — crops. Estimates of the Department of 
Agriculture show that the 1918 farm crop was third in volume in 
the history of the state, and the greatest in money value ever 
produced by any state in America — $879,679,000. Iowa comes 
second, with a crop valued at $821,920,000; Texas is third — 
$175,000,000 behind Illinois. 

It was a war crop in the strictest sense, planted and appor- 
tioned according to a predetermined program. The government 
asked for more wheat, and Illinois responded with 60,991,000 
bushels, an increase of 70 per cent over the 1917 crop, which was 
twice that of 1916; for more barley, and Illinois raised 4,750,000 
bushels, twice the crop of 1917; for more rye, and Illinois raised 
3,800,000 bushels, nearly five times the 1917 crop. Our oats 
crop was 244,000,000 bushels, or 45,000,000 bushels short of the 
1917 crop; and our corn crop of 351,450,000 bushels was 68,000,- 
000 below the great crop of 1917, but because of early frosts in 
1917 the corn crop of 1918 (Providence must get the credit for 
this, not our farmers or the State Council) has once and a half 
the feeding value oof the 1917 crop. And it should be remem- 
bered that the crop of 1917 — the largest of any state that year — 
was also a war contribution of Illinois. 

WTiile we were making these contributions directly to the 



4 ILLINOIS IN THE WAR 

war, we also continued to do our part in the manufacturing field. 
Notwithstanding the drain upon the man power of the state, 
Illinois, in 1918, turned out manufactured products valued at 
$6,000,000,000— $3,943,000,000 in Chicago, the rest down-state. 
Of these, about $2,000,000,000 worth were on direct war contracts, 
but virtually all were war contributions, for Illinois factories are 
not largely given to the production of luxuries or non-essentials. 

If you will add to this staggering record of the production 
of Illinois in a war year, the great production of our coal fields 
and oil wells, figures for which I cannot give you now, when the 
details are finally written, I think they will reflect credit upon 
every industry, and virtually upon every individual, in the state. 

This great achievement of Illinois, gentlemen, represents 
more than fertile fields and wide-spread industries; it represents 
a state of mind, civilian morale, and team work. The State 
Comicil of Defense — unlike political parties, which sometimes 
lay claim to the beneficence of simshine and rain — claims no 
credit for the fact that our fields are fertile, nor because we have 
established industries directed by enterprising men. But we 
modestly hope that we helped to bring about the state of mind, 
the civilian morale and the co-operation which enabled Illinois, 
not merely to do well, but to do almost her best while America 
was at war. And I believe that had the war not ended when it 
did, we would have done quite our best this year. 

What the Council set out to do was to direct the energies of 
the state wholly to essential war work, to accustom the people to 
the necessities of the war and to prepare them for its sacrifices. 
In this we followed the directions of the national government 
generally, but when occasion required, the Council took the re- 
sponsibility of pointing the way. 

Let me cite an instance. At our very first business meeting, 
on May 8, 1917, the Council passed a resolution urging upon 
Congress the immediate enactment of "a rigid food, fuel and com- 
modity act that will vest in a commission, to be appointed by the 
President, full power to control the production, distribution, 
transportation and price of food-stuffs, grains, fuel and other 



ILLINOIS IN THE WAR O 

basic commodities." Bear in mind that at this time the Lever 
bill had not been introduced. The public knew little of what 
such regulation meant. Probably the bill would have been in- 
troduced sooner or later anyway, but our Council was the first 
oflScial body to demand such a law, and our action at least helped 
to prepare the public mind for the regulation which later oc- 
curred, which all now admit was essential, and which the people 
accepted without a murmur. 

Again, starting while the Lever bill was pending, it was the 
Illinois Council which took the lead in getting the Fuel Admin- 
istration established — through its own action and the action of 
the Governor, as well as the joint action of thirteen middle- west 
states — almost as soon as the Lever bill became a law. 

But, I repeat, our greatest value was in preparing the people 
for their war duties, and in getting public acceptance of war 
conditions and war demands, rather than in advising the national 
government of its obligations. We imdertoook to help the govern- 
ment get done the things it wanted done, instead of telling it how 
to run the war. It was for this that we built up our great organ- 
ization — and, if I may be allowed to say so, it was a great organ- 
ization. We had fifty thousand active workers, distributed 
through all the counties down-state, and 30,000 more in Cook 
County, not counting the 300,000 women Mrs. Bowen had under 
her committee, which was attached to the State Council of De- 
fense. 

Our Council took the requests of the national government 
as orders; in turn, our coimty organizations regarded the requests 
of our Council as orders. Let it be said further, that the people 
in each community — ^the men and women throughout Illinois — 
were mindful of the suggestions which came to them from the 
Council itself or from our county organizations. Thus, we had 
the whole state working upon a common plan to achieve a com- 
mon purpose. 

I do not say it as a boast, gentlemen, but it is my firm belief 
that it was because these 80,000 active members of the State 
Council organization — leading men and women in their commu- 



5 ILLINOIS IN THE WAR 

nities everywhere — were amenable to orders, and because the 
300,000 women of Mrs. Bowen's organization, not only obeyed 
instructions themselves, but were continuously preaching sacrifice 
and discipline — it was because of this that Illinois was enabled 
to make the war record it did. Acceptance of the draft law, of 
the restrictions on food and fuel, of the food production program, 
of amusement curtailment and longer working hours, the contri- 
bution of money in unheard-of amounts — all these things were 
done not only without protest but heartily. And I do not believe 
they would have been done with such good feeling, if at all, had 
not the public mind been organized for their acceptance. If the 
State Council did anything in this war, it organized the public 
mind. 

Let me cite another instance, this time of the team work 
achieved in Illinois by means of our state-wide organization. On 
September 17, 1918, the national government called upon the 
State Council to help shut off non-war construction work, so that 
all the energies of the nation might be devoted to essential war 
work. Within thirty days, eighty-nine of our one hundred and 
two counties had established non-war construction boards, and 
when the end of the war came — only fifty-five days after the 
creation of the bureau — non-essential construction work to the 
amount of $13,873,000 had been deferred until after the war, and 
few people even complained about it. 

Again, the national government in August last called upon 
the Council to regulate deliveries by the stores of Illinois, to 
induce people to carry home their own parcels, and to limit 
Christmas presents to useful things. This looked like a tough 
job, but within sixty days the merchants of every town of 2,000 
or more inhabitants in Illinois, including Chicago, had limited 
their deliveries to one a day; women everywhere, who had never 
done so before, were carrying home their own parcels, and the 
merchants themselves, in every town of the state, were appealing 
to their patrons, in the name of the State Council, to buy only 
useful gifts for Christmas, and to buy those early. Besides, there 
was a board in virtually every town to see that these rules were 
enforced. 



ILLINOIS IN THE WAR 7 

Another manifestation of our team work was the organization 
of the Volunteer Training Corps, now converted into Reserve 
Militia. The absorption of the National Guard by the United 
States Army left Illinois practically without protection against 
the internal disorder, which the nation at war might invite. In 
response to the request of the Council, nearly 15,000 men — 
largely men exempt from the national service — enrolled in the 
Volunteer Training Corps, imiformed themselves and used their 
spare time for training. Wlien they became fit and competent 
troops, they were converted into Reserve Militia — six regiments 
of them, with one company or more in every considerable city 
of the state — and are now, under the direction of the Adjutant 
General of the state, equipped and qualified to perform any 
service which may be required of them. 

It was organization of the public mind, also, which made 
possible our enormous sale of Liberty Bonds, and our great con- 
tributions to the Red Cross and other war aid organizations, and 
it was organization of the minds of the farmers which made pos- 
sible the great crop I have mentioned. The Council helped the 
farmers plan the program which brought it about, helped to 
provide the labor which planted and harvested it (21,000 lads 
from the cities and towns who were trained and sent out by the 
U. S. Boys' Working Reserve, among other agencies), and the 
Council even provided the seed for a good part of our corn 
crop. 

Some of you know already that the Council, indirectly was 
a seed-corn purchasing agency for Illinois. The Chicago banks 
backed us with a pledge of $1,250,000 for that purpose. We 
borrowed only $495,000, with which, together with our seed corn 
propaganda, we not only saved the corn crop of Illinois but 
made a profit of more than $140,000 for the national Department 
of Agriculture — which became our partner in the enterprise at a 
late day, and took all the profits. 

Which brings me to a fact which I think is unique in the 
histories of all our state councils of defense throughout the coun- 
try. Gentlemen, in addition to whatever it did to help win the 
war, the State Council of Defense of Illinois was a money-making 



8 ILLINOIS IN THE WAR 

institution. We cost the people of Illinois money, to be sure — 
between S150,000 and $175,000. Fifty thousand dollars of this 
the Legislature gave us, and the rest we secured by passing the 
hat — chiefly here in Chicago. It is our intention not to ask the 
state for any further sum. But notwithstanding this, we really 
made money for the people of the United States — made around 
$450,000, or nearly three times what we cost the state — in legi- 
timate, patriotic enterprises — enterprises which we believe did a 
great deal of good in themselves, besides being profitable. 

In addition to the $140,000 we made out of seed corn, and 
turned over to the government, we also made over $300,000 out of 
our Patriotic War Show on the Lake Front. We have turned over 
to the Committee on Public Information $300,000 already (I very 
much regretted having to do so, but under the Congressional 
enactment there was nothing else for us to do), and will have 
another small check. In fourteen days 1,955,602 people attended 
the show, and I am sure its value in arousing patriotic sentiment 
was great indeed. 

We also made over $8,000 out of our Patriotic Food Show 
last January, despite two of the most terrific blizzards Chicago 
has had in thirty years, and, besides, that show served as a model 
for more than 250 like shows throughout America. We sold more 
than 300,000 copies of the recipe book we got out for the show, 
distributing them from Britain to China, at five and ten cents a 
copy, and made a profit of over $7,500 out of that cook book. 

Had we been able to keep all we made, we should now be 
turning money back into the state treasury, despite our small 
appropriation of $50,000, whereas other states had appropria- 
tions running from $100,000 for the smaller ones to $5,000,000 
in one instance, and $2,000,000 and $1,000,000 in others. 

As we thus turned the State Coimcil of Defense to actual, 
honest and legitimate profit, I wonder, gentlemen, if the people 
of Illinois may not turn the war itself, and what it taught us, to 
actual, legitimate profit? I do not mean, in any sense, to profit- 
eering. 

Consider the great Illinois crop of 1918. It was just the 



ILLINOIS IN THE WAR 9 

crop the needs of the world demanded; a crop calculated to 
bring the highest market price. We grew it because the federal 
government made known the demands of the war and the leading 
farmers of the state got together and laid out a program which 
would meet these demands; because the farmers of the state 
counseled together, and after that worked together, to achieve a 
common purpose. The farms were short-handed, the state's great- 
est crops was threatened for lack of seed, it was hard to get plant- 
ing, cultivating or harvesting machinery, or fertilizer. Despite 
all this, the state raised its most valuable crop in history, and did 
it easily, because the needs of the time imposed an obligation to 
do so. Co-operation, team-work, was accomplished as a matter 
of course, when the safety of the nation required it. 

The same thing occurred in every other industry. Why, there 
wasn't a strike of importance in the state after the war started. 
All war undertakings succeeded by virtue of this spirit of co- 
operation. A billion and a quarter dollars' worth of Liberty 
Bonds were sold in Illinois through team-work. Co-operation 
achieved our contributions to war aid and relief. Look what 
happened in the United War Work drive! The widest differences 
in our coimtry, or in any other, are religious; yet in that drive 
we found the Y. M. C. A., the K. of C, the Jewish Welfare Society 
and the Salvation Army passing the same hat and dividing the 
collection. And no one grumbled — much. 

If we could achieve this unity of thought and purpose under 
stress of war, why can't we do it in time of peace? We proved 
that team-work served best when the nation was in peril; are we 
going to forget the lesson now that the peril of the war is past? 

I hope not, for remember, gentlemen, partiotism is but a 
higher development of team-work. Americanization — ^which is 
such a common term in these days — is only the conversion of the 
foreign-born to applied co-operation. To Americanize our citi- 
zens of foreign birth or ancestry is simply to bring them to the 
realization and acceptance of an American program for the good 
of America, and to work to that program. 

Upon this question I desire to say a further word. You can- 



10 ILLINOIS IN THE WAR 

not get team-work, gentlemen, if the people of the team speak 
different languages. I mean this literally. A confusion of 
tongues is the simplest and most effective method for defeating 
a common purpose yet discovered; it was the method employed 
by Jehovah himself to accomplish that end. And as long as we 
have a confusion of tongues in America, we cannot hope to get 
that complete co-operation which means Americanization. 

In the nature of things, we cannot entirely avoid a multitude 
of tongues in the first generation of those who come to America 
as a refuge of the oppressed or a land of opportunity for the 
enterprising. Therefore, it is futile to talk of complete Amer- 
icanization of the first generation of the foreign-born. Such talk 
is futile — and I am not sure but that it is undesirable — for an- 
other reason also. For let me tell you that however well an 
immigrant may come to love America, however well he may come 
to understand and however highly he may come to value American 
institutions, he isn't going to forget the land of his birth. He can 
no more do that than he can forget the mother who bore him. 
He cannot forgo all affection for his homeland — the soil itself, 
the companions and kin with whom he grew up, and the customs 
of his youth — even if he would. 

While this is true, and while to think of abolishing our con- 
fusion of tongues in the first generation is hopeless, there is no 
reason why we should go on maintaining and propagating this 
babel of languages through the second, and even the third and 
fourth, generation. Yet that is what we are doing — in the foreign- 
language schools of America. It is these which most need to be 
Americanized, in behalf of a sound and enduring patriotism. 

I have no objection to the teaching of foreign languages in 
American schools. I do object to foreign-language schools in 
America. A foreign-born family in America begins with two — 
the husband and wife. We may find it difficult always to make 
good Americans of these, because they lack our language. But 
the children of a foreign-born family, usually from four to ten — 
why should we deliberately make them poor Americans by allow- 
ing them to acquire their educations in a foreign tongue? The 
language in which a child learns the elementaries of education — 



ILLINOIS IN THE WAR 11 

the three R's, common grammar and fundamental history — is the 
language in which he comes to do his thinking. You don't help 
to make a good American citizen of a child by bringing him up 
to think in a language which is not the common language of his 
country. 

We can't make a foreign-born citizen a good American by 
law. But we can make the schools of Illinois American by law, 
and thereby make it easier for those born here to be good Amer- 
icans. 

The State Council of Defense thinks this should be done. 
The Council believes it would be the longest step in American- 
ization it is possible to take. Hence, to round out its work, the 
Council will recommend this step to the General Assembly at 
Springfield. And if that recommendation shall be translated into 
law, it is our belief that to have made it will not be the least 
service we have rendered Illinois. 



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